BWW Reviews: MACBETH, The House of Detention Clerkenwell, May 1 2012

As I write, the dried gunge still clings to my shoes, grime from the unvarnished grimness of a Victorian prison, all crumbling brick dust, dripping water and echo after echo down the paved corridors, down the centuries and down, down into the depths of man’s depravity. Beltup Theatre’s Macbeth is a visceral experience, discomforting and uncomfortable, driving home Shakespeare’s hideous warning of how ambition and ruthlessness can be transformed into psychosis.

In halls, cells and God knows what, four actors, lit mainly by the candles they carry, incite murder, execute murder and regret murder at such close quarters that they are sometimes pushing past us, sometimes imploring us to help them, sometimes hiding amongst us. More than ever, one feels the bite of Lady Macbeth’s insults that drive her Lord to bloody homicide, the pain of MacDuff’s discovery of his family’s slaughter and the grip of the witches’ prophecies on Macbeth’s addled brain.

The acting could easily be lost amidst all this, as the words whisk us from one horror and one chamber to the next, but David Calvitto’s direction trusts his cast and they repay him fully. Joe Hufton and Sam Donnelly play a range of minor characters (it’s worth reading a plot summary or two before watching this production, even if you’re familiar with the work as it’s not always easy to keep up - literally), but it is Dominic Allen as Macbeth – looking like a truly malevolent Derren Brown - and Serena Manteghi as his Lady, who lay the evil all around a venue that reeks of man’s capacity to do evil unto others. Ms Manteghi is particularly impressive, as she seems the smallest, least noticeable person in the crowd – until she starts to act and fills the gloom with her dark heart.

Make sure you have good directions to the venue, as this extraordinary labyrinth is entered through the most unprepossessing of wooden doors in Sans Walk, Clerkenwell. Make sure you’re wearing sensible shoes and wrapped up warm too, as the chill in the air is real as well as dramatic. Beltup’s production is not for everyone, but if it sounds like it might be for you, it definitely will be for you.  

Macbeth is at Clerkenwell’s House of Detention until 18 May with tickets available via Southwark Playhouse.